Laundry Magic

My mom introduced me to a wonderful stain remover. Its called GOOP. Dave has been using this hand cleaner for a long time to clean up after working on the car. I never realized how wonderful it works on other things as well! We've gotten marker off of our new couches with it and I have removed tons of stains from the kids clothes. Everything from spaghetti sauce to blood.

BEFORE

AFTER

I think that I may have missed a few spots on the bottom, but if you look at the collar you can see a big difference. (There is a gold design that runs through the pink - its not dirt.)

The way that I use it is to rub a little GOOP into the stain with a toothbrush then let it set for 10 or 15 minutes before throwing it in the washer with the rest of the laundry. I have been keeping a watch out for something to take out stains the kids' clothes and I think I have finally found it!

Advent Time!

Every year since I was a kid my family has made an advent wreath. My siblings and I would go out and cut evergreens and we would wrap them around a wire form to create the wreath, and then we would decorate it with berries and miniature gifts.
My mom was so creative in her preparation of the advent season! Each of the four candles would have a different name, and she would have a short devotional and and several verses to go along with whatever the candle's name was. We each had our own advent "book" that she had put together. It was filled with all sorts of Christmas songs and was covered by some sort of Christmas themed picture that we all sat around and colored on the first Sunday of the advent season.
My family has always been somewhat musical, so the songs in the book included the lyrics and the music so that we could all follow along and sing in four part harmony. We sang the traditional carols like Angels We Have Heard on High, Joy to The World, and We Three Kings as well as some songs that are probably not so familiar. Songs like Infant Lowly, Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella, and Pat-a-Pan. We had so much fun singing these songs together! It was a wonderful time of "togetherness" for our family, and is a memory that we all cherish.
We have continued the tradition of the advent wreath with our own children. A few things are different due to the ages of the kids like cutting live greens and singing in four part harmony, but as they get older I hope to incorporate these parts of my own memories into our tradition.
For now, we have fun learning the names of all of the candles and singing the songs that all of the kids know by memory. We still have advent books that we all sit around and color together and the kids that can read (that would be 6 of them) enjoy looking through the songs and finding their favorite ones.
One of the reasons that I like this tradition is that it gives us an excuse during the busy holiday season to sit around the table together and enjoy just being a family.
Here are some pictures of this years first Advent Sunday.